Tiltable support mechanism for crucible or converter



TILTABLE SUPPORT MECHANISM FOR CRUCIBLE OR CONVERTER Filed June 21, 1965 Oct 31, 1967 J. LAMBRECHT ETAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: JOSEF LAM BRECHT GEORG STADLMAN N BY M. 151. 7HM-+ TH EIR ATTORNEYS Oct. 31, 1967 J. LAMBRECHT ETAL 3,

TILTABLE SUPPORT MECHANISM FOR CRUCIBLE QR CONVERTER Filed June 21, 1965 5 Sheets$heet 2 INVENTORS: JOSEF LAM BRECHT GEORG STADLMAN N THEIR ATTORNEYS 1967 J. LAMBRECHT ETAL 3,350,082

TILTABLE SUPPORT MECHANISM FOR CRUGIBLE OR CONVERTER Filed June 21, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS: JOSEF LAM BRECHT GEORG STADLMAN N THEIR ATTORNEYS United States Patent O flice 3,350,082 Patented Oct. 31, 1967 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE shanks of the supporting member, whereby tilting of the supporting member, while the crucible is supported by a carriage, releases the crucible from the supporting element, hinged brackets being provided for detachably connecting the supporting elements to the supporting member to enable tilting of the crucible with the supporting member.

For refining crude iron, tilta'ble crucibles or converters are used which comprise a supporting structure extending round the shell of the crucible and mounted between protruding flanges of pairs of brackets spaced around the periphery of the crucible. A three-point support for such crucibles has been proposed, wherein only three supporting elements having the form of pairs of brackets are provided for taking up bearing forces. This construction is statically determinate; thus an exact calculation of the stresses is possible. The supporting structures which are designed as rings or as frames which are open at one side need not be over=dirnensioned, but may be of a lighter construction than the statically indetermined bearings comprising, for instance, four to eight pairs of brackets spaced around the periphery of the crucible.

In such constructions a further statical improvement of the three-point support principle has already been proposed,.which resides in that one supporting element is arranged in the plane of tilting of the crucible, and two further supporting elementsare" arranged eec'entrically in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting, the radial planes through the supporting elements including an angle of more than 90 between them. In the operation of modern steel plants mostly several crucibles are arranged in series one beside the other, working alternately, eg in such manner, that one crucible is being charged, whilst one or two other crucibles are blown, the next is being tapped etc., since the most efficient and quickest operation is achieved thereby. As the lining of the crucible has to be renewed from time to time, it is desirable to effect the re-lining on a place removed from the blowing stands, in order not to put the blowing stand concerned out of operation during the overhauling of the crucible. Thus, it has already been proposed to replaceably suspend the refining vessels in their mountings and, in case of need, to remove the crucible by means of a transport car from the blowing stand to the lining stand or to a side stand, and then to install a newly lined crucible into the vacant mounting. Known consrtuctions for interchangeably supporting a crucible comprise a frame which is open at one side and approximately horseshoe-shaped. All known constructions of this kind have shown the disadvantage that the crucibles, when being moved out or mounted in the blowing stand and in the relining stand or side stand, respectively, have to be lifted and lowered. In some cases the lifting height amounts to up to 3 meters. Lifting up of such loads requires 'a considerable technical expenditure; mostly complexly controlled hydraulic lifting means are used.

The present invention has in view a statically deterniinate crucible bearing construction, from which and into which, respectively, a crucible or converter can be moved in or out without lifting; the transfer of the crucible from a crucible stand to a transport car or vice versa, thus should be performed without lifting or lowering crucible.

This problem is solved according to the invention in that in a supporting structure, wherein one supporting element is arranged in the tilting plane of the crucible and two further supporting elements are arranged eccentrically in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting, the supporting structure consists of a U=shaped part and a part detachably secured to the shanks of the U-shaped part and connecting said shanks, the U-shaped part being detachable by tilting the vessel, without any vertical movement of the latter.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the supporting element in the plane of tilting and the supporting elements in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting are arranged on opposite sides of the supporting structure (upper and bottom side, respectively); suitably the supporting elements may be held by so-called hinged brackets as is specified in the following.

According to the invention, the two supporting elements being perpendicular to the plane of tilting of the crucible may bear against the part connecting the shanks of the U-shaped part. It also is possible that all three supporting elements bear against the U-shaped part of the supporting structure, the part connecting the two shanks of the 'U-s'haped part being rigidly mounted on the crucible shell.

Further features of the invention are evident from the following detailed description in connection with the drawing, wherein FIG. 1 is a lateral view of the supporting structure with inserted crucible and a transport car moving under the crucible, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the supporting structure, and FIG. 3 is a showing of the supporting structure as viewed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1; FIGS. 4 and 5 illsutrate the detachment of the supporting structure from the crucible after the crucible has been taken up by the transport car, FIG. 5 again representing the supporting structure as viewed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4. FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show a modified embodiment of the supporting structure represented in the same way as in 'FIGS. 1 to 3.

In the drawing, numeral 1 designates the crucible, 2 is a supporting structure extending round the shell of the crucible and comprising, as shown in FIG. 2, a U-shaped part 3 and a part 5 detachably secured to the shanks 4, 4' of the U-shaped part and connecting these shanks. The supporting structure 3 and the connecting part 5 may suitably be formed from a troughor box-shaped profile. Numerals 6 and 6' denote the trunnions rigidly connected to the supporting structure, on which trunnions the tilting drive 20 acts. The crucible 1 is supported on the supporting structure 3 by means of a supporting element 7 fixed to the crucible shell and arranged in the plane of tilting K and by means of two further supporting elements 8 and 9 forming the ends of the connecting part 5, which is in turn mounted on the opposite crucible wall. These two supporting elements 8 and 9 are arranged eccentrically to the crucible axis in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting so that the radial planes (drawn in dashes) through the supporting elements are inclined at angles of about 120 to each other. The supporting element 7 is arranged on the bottom side of the supporting structure 3 (cf. of FIG. 3), whereas the supporting elements 8 and 9 are located on the upperside of the shanks 4, 4 of the supporting structure (FIG. 1). All three supporting elements are designed as journals or bolts. They are inserted in correspondingly shaped (U- shaped) recesses 10 of the supporting structure 3, that is, of the shanks 4, 4', and fixed by means of pivotable flap elements 11. Fastening elements of that kind which are mounted to be hingea-ble on one end and are adapted to be secured on the other end by means of screws 21 on suchlike in a locking position, also are called hinged brackets." A transport car 12, running by means of wheels 13 on rails, is movable under the crucible. The transport car is provided with a number of, e.g. three, pivotable supporting means 14, which, after the transport car has been moved under the crucible, may be brought in engagement with the crucible wall and then fastened by means of suitable fastening elements, which may be designed, for instance, as tension screws 15 having corresponding counter-nuts 16, which pass through a slot of the supporting means and are pivotably fixed with one end to the transport car.

When the transport car has been moved under the crucible, as shown in FIG. 1, and the supporting means have been brought into position so that the load of the crucible is equally distributed to the supporting means, the removal of the crucible from the supporting structure can take place, as explained in FIGS. 4 and 5. First the screws 21 are removed and the hinged brackets are unlocked. The brackets are hinged back and the supporting structure 2 tilted to such an extent that the bolts 9 are free. This tilting angle of the supporting structure may be subsantially less than 90. Now the crucible may be moved away by the transport car 12 in horizontal direction. At the sideor lining-stand the crucible is installed in the same way but in reversed sequence. If the crucible, after having been used for some time, is deformed, a tight clamping of the bolts 9 and a positive positioning can always be guaranteed owing to the keyshaped lugs 17 of the hinged brackets, which protrude into the recesses 10, in connection with the adjustability of the screws 21. A modified embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. In this embodiment part is detachably, but rigidly connected to the shanks 4, 4' of the U-shaped part, e.g., by means of threaded bolts 18 or the like. All three supporting elements are designed as bolts 9 rigidly connected to the wall, again one being arranged in the plane of tilting K and the other being located eccentrically to the crucible axis in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting. Fastening of the bolts 9 on the supporting structure 3, 5 is effected in the same manner as in FIGS. 1 to 5 by means of hinged brackets. Also the removal and the installation, respectively, of the crucible is analogous. The only additional measure is that the connecting part 5 has to be detached from the supporting structure before the crucible is moved out.

We we claim is:

1. A tiltable crucible for refining crude iron comprising a crucible shell of substantially circular cross-section, a U-shaped supporting structure for said shell having a closed base and spaced-apart shanks, axially aligned spaced trunnions extending outwardly from said supporting structure substantially diametrically of said shell, and three supporting elements arranged to support said shell on said supporting structure, one supporting element being arranged in the plane of tilting of the crucible passing through the longitudinal axis thereof and extending across said base on one side of said supporting member, and two further supporting elements being arranged in a plane perpendicular to the plane of tilting eccentrically of the crucible axis extending across said shanks on the opposite side of said supporting member from said one supporting element and means detachably connecting said supporting elements to said supporting structure, said supporting structure being detachable from the crucible by tilting, without any vertical movement of the latter.

2. A crucible as set forth in claim 1, wherein said detachable connecting means comprises hinged brackets on said supporting structure.

3. A crucible as set forth in claim 1, comprising a rigid member fixed to said crucible, said two further supporting elements being mounted on said rigid member and recesses in said base and shanks receiving said supporting elements.

4. A crucible as set forth in claim 3, comprising means for rigidly connecting said two further supporting eleto said shanks of said supporting member.

5. A crucible as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for detachably connecting said supporting elements to said supporting member comprises recesses in the upper and lower surfaces of said supporting member for receiving said supporting elements, brackets hingedly connected to said supporting member movable into engagement with said supporting elements to retain them in said notches and movable out of engagement with said supporting elements to release them, and means for releasably retaining said brackets in engagement with said supporting elements.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,226,653 5/1917 Goldberg 29 ,43 3,239,206 341966 Puxkandl 26639 x;

FOREIGN PATENTS 825,455 12/1951 Germany.

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner. E. MAR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TILTABLE CRUCIBLE FOR REFINING CRUDE IRON COMPRISING A CRUCIBLE SHELL OF SUBSTANTIALLY CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTION, A U-SHAPED SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR SAID SHELL HAVING A CLOSED BASE AND SPACED-APART SHANKS, AXIALLY ALIGNED SPACED TRUNNIONS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE SUBSTANTIALLY DIAMETRICALLY OF SAID SHELL, AND THREE SUPPORTING ELEMENTS ARRANGED TO SUPPORT SAID SHELL ON SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, ONE SUPPORTING ELEMENT BEING ARRANGED IN THE PLANE OF TILTING OF THE CRUCIBLE PASSING THROUGH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS THEREOF AND EXTENDING ACROSS SAID BASE ON ONE SIDE OF SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER, AND TWO FURTHER SUPPORTING ELEMENTS BEING ARRANGED IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF TILTING ECCENTRICALLY OF THE CRUCIBLE AXIS EXTENDING ACROSS SAID SHANKS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER FROM SAID ONE SUPPORTING ELEMENT AND MEANS DETACHABLY CONNECTNG SAID SUPPORTING ELEMENTS TO SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE BEING DETACHABLE FROM THE CRUCIBLE BY TILTING, WITHOUT ANY VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF THE LATTER. 